Yellowstone Quarter Launch Ceremony

Yesterday, the US Mint held the launch ceremony for the Yellowstone National Park Quarter. A Mint News Blog reader was in attendance and provided a first-hand account of the event and some pictures.

A full recap of the event with pictures can be round in a separate article on Coin Update News:
Yellowstone National Park Quarter Launch Ceremony and Coin Exchange

Compared to the last quarter launch and especially the Lincoln Cent launch events, it seemed that there were far fewer coin collectors in attendance. Most of the crowd was reportedly made up of residents from surrounding areas and visitors to the park, who happened to hear about the event. Collector interest in these events seemed to have peaked with the launch ceremony for the "Formative Years" 2009 Lincoln Cent. Estimates on the number of attendees for that event ranged as high as 4,000, and it was referred to as "Woodstock for Coin Collectors."

The total number of quarters exchanged at the Yellowstone ceremony was lower compared to other ceremonies. There were 4,400 rolls worth $44,000 exchanged. This compares to 7,650 rolls worth $76,500 exchanged at the Hot Springs ceremony.

Fewer people also seemed to be taking the time to stamp and cancel the rolls. A special pictorial cancellation was available for the Yellowstone Quarter rolls and some collectors used stamps depicting Old Faithful. There were reportedly about 1,100 rolls canceled by the post office. Figures related to the number of cancellations aren't available from prior events, but I would guess that the numbers were higher.